Apparatus for spraying coatings on containers



F. REMINGTON ETAL 3,036,550

May 29, 1962 APPARATUS FOR SPRAYING COATINGS ON CONTAINERS Filed Nov. 28, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. C RENHNGT RlCHARD A. TARTAG FPEDERI ON LIA BY ATTORNEY y 1952 F. REMINGTON ETAL 3,036,550

APPARATUS FORSPRAYING COATINGS 0N CONTAINERS Filed Nov. 28, 1960 2 Sheets$heet 2 IN V EN TORS.

FREDERIC REMINGTON A RICHARD A.TARTAC1LIA A TTO/P/VE aent 3,036,550 Patented May 29, 1962 3,036,550 APPARATUS FUR SPRAYMG CQATHNGS N CONTAHJERS Frederic Remington, Elizabeth, and Richard A. Tartaglia,

East Orange, NJL, assignors to Peerless 'lnhe Company,

Bloomfield, Ni, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Nov. 28, 1960, Ser. No. 72,025 4 Claims. (El. ll83(ll) This invention relates in general to apparatus for ap plying coatings such as lacquer to articles, particularly containers such as aluminum cans and collapsible tubes, and more particularly the invention contemplates apparatus of this character wherein the articles or containers are removably mounted on carriers such as pins that are continuously moved in equidistantly spaced sideby-side relation 'along a linear path past a spray head by which the coating is sprayed onto the containers.

A primary object of the invention is to provide apparatus of this character wherein a spray shield shall be interposed between the spray head and portions of the carriers not covered by the articles to prevent accumulation of sprayed coating material on said carriers and conveyor, and the excess coating material collected on the spray shield shall be automatically and continuously returned to a collection receptacle.

Another object is to provide such apparatus wherein the spray shield shall comprise a rotatable circular disc mounted in an inclined plane with a peripheral portion thereof overlying the container-supporting pins and the portion of the conveyor to deflect the spray coating material away from the pins and the conveyor, and wiping means for causing the liquid coating material picked up by the disc to flow by gravity to a collection container.

Other objects of the invention are to provide in spraying apparatus as described, means for guiding the containersupporting pins in a horizontal path beneath the spray head and the shield disc, and means for causing rotation of the container-supporting pins and the containers thereon as the pins and containers move beneath the spray head through the spray of coating material; to provide a novel and improved means for adjustably mounting and driving the shield disc in proper relation to the container conveyor, and to obtain other objects, advantages and results that Will be brought out by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of apparatus embodying the invention for spraying a liquid coating material on cans, with portions of the apparatus broken away and other portions omitted for clearness in illustr-ation;

FIGURE 2 is a combination side elevation and fragmentary vertical section thereof approximately on the plane of the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus approximately on the plane of the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the major portion of the frame of the machine or apparatus has been omitted, but a base portion of the frame is designated A and has mounted thereon a collection receptacle or tank B for the excess coating material across the top of which are mounted a plurality of horizontally and vertically spaced angle bars C which prevent the cans and external objects from falling into the tank and at the same time allow the coating liquid to flow into the tank with a minimum of possibility of clogging or stoppage.

The containers, shown in the present instance as aluminum cans l, are moved in spaced side-by-side relation to each other in a horizontal path above the bar C of the collection tank B, beneath a spray shield D and a spray head E. As shown, each can is renrovably telescopically mounted on a carrier pin 2 that projects laterally and horizontally from an endless chain conveyor F mounted in any suitable manner, for example on sprockets G, and driven by any suitable source of power connected to the shaft of one of the sprockets. On each pin 2 is fixedly mounted a roller 3 that rolls on a track 4; secured to the top of the tank B, and the pins and containers are moved progressively in a predetermined horizontal path by the conveyor. Above the rollers 3 is an endless friction belt H mounted on pulleys I the shaft K of one or both of which may be driven from any suitable source of power, one reach of said belt engaging the rollers 3 as they pass beneath the spray head so as to rotate the corresponding pins and cans and thereby insure a uniform application of the coating liquid throughout the cylindrical surfaces of the cans.

As hereinbetore indicated, the spray shield is in the form of a circular disc, preferably of non-corrosive metal, and the disc is rigidly mounted between flanges 5 on a stub shaft 6 which is journaled in a bearing block 7 which is in turn rigidly carried by a support arm 8 which is pivotally mounted by a pivot pin 9 between two bracket arms lltl that are secured to the upper portion L of the frame. As shown, the support arm is so connected to the bearing block '7 and the bracket arms 10 that the shield disc D is held in an inclined plane at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane of the path of travel of the pins 2 and containers 1 as best shown in FIGURE 2. The spray head E is mounted in about the vertical diametral plane of the disc D that is parallel to the container-supporting pins 2 so as to apply the coating material in the form of a spray jet M the diameter of which is greater than the length of the port-ions of the containers to be coated so that complete coverage of the containers shall be insured.

As hereinbefore stated, the spray shield D is provided to protect the pins and the conveyor from being coated with the excess coating material that is ejected in the spray jet M, and as shown in FIGURE 2, the peripheral portion of the spray shield disc D in said vertical diametral plane of the disc overlies the portions of the pins 2 between the ends of the cans and the conveyor F, and also overlies the conveyor so that the disc is interposed between the pins and any portion of the spray jet M that may extend or spread beyond the inner ends of the containers as shown in FIGURE 2.

For the purpose of continuously cleaning from the disc the liquid coating material collected thereon, the disc, during spraying operations, is continuously rotated about the axis of the shaft 6 at any suitable speed, depending upon the nature of the coating material and the amount thereof ejected by the spray head. As shown, the disc has rigidly connected thereto a sprocket 11 which is connected by a chain 12 to a sprocket 13 rigidly connected to the output shaft of a speed reducing gear mechanism 14 the input shaft of which is driven in known manner by an electric motor 15 which is shown as mounted on a platform 16 which projects from the frame portion L.

Associated with the disc are a wiper 25 that contacts the upper surface of the disc along the marginal portion thereof and is stationarily mounted in any suitable manner as by an arm 26 secured on the support arm 8. Another wiper 27 is mounted on a frame piece 0 and normally is in contact with the peripheral edge of the disc. The wipers may be of suitable material such as felt and as the disc rotates, the excess coating material on the upper surface of the disc is deflected from the disc by the wiper 25 and drops by gravity into the tank B that is disposed beneath the wiper, and at the same time the coating material that accumulates on the edge of the disc is displaced therefrom by the wiper 27 and also drops into the tank B or any suitable collecting device.

It is desirable, if not necessary, to provide means for adjusting the spray shield D with respect to the conveyor pins 2 and the cans 1, for example to compensate for cans of different lengths and to prevent the sprayed coating material from passing beneath the peripheral edge of the spray shield onto the conveyor pins. For this purpose, we have shown the upper portion L of the frame as including a vertical plate 17 that is adjustably mounted by bolt and slot connections 18 to a main frame bar N so that the whole assembly of the spray shield disc, the support arm 8, the upper portion L of the frame and the motor can be moved as a unit vertically to move the lower edge portion of the spray shield disc toward and away from the pins 2.

For moving the spray shield disc longitudinally of the pins 2 to compensate for cans of different lengths, the support arm 8 is swung about its pivot pin 9 and is held in adjustable position between two stop members 23 that are adjustably mounted by bolt and slot connections 24 on a stationary frame piece 0. Obviously, by sliding the stop members 23 longitudinally of the frame piece and securing them in adjusted positions on the frame piece, the support arm 8 will be held in a desired adjusted position to locate the edge of the spray shield disc at the desired point with respect to the inner ends of the cans 1 on the pins 2.

Manifestly, the invention may be utilized in connection with the spray coating of other articles than containers such as aluminum cans and the pins may be replaced with other carriers suitable to the particular articles to be sprayed; and the shield disc may be disposed with respect to the article carriers to protect the portions of the carriers not covered by the articles themselves from being coated with the spray material while at the same time permitting free coating of the articles.

During the spraying operation, the marginal portion of the spray shield continuously moves through the spray from the spray head and conveys the excess coating material away from the carriers or pins 2 to the wiper 25 which wipes the material from the upper surface of the disc and deflects the material from the edge of the disc so that the material flows by gravitational action to the collection tank B.

it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the spray head may be of any suitable construction to which air and coating liquid may be supplied through the tubes 21, and the spray head will be adjustably mounted on the frame in any suitable manner, for example by a rod 22 supported in any desired way, for example on the frame of the machine or a separate support structure.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that we have illustrated the now preferred embodiment of the invention but that many modifications and changes can be made in the details of construction of the apparatus within the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. In a spray coating machine, the combination with a plurality of article carriers each to have mounted thereon an article to be sprayed with a portion of the carrier covered by said article and another portion of the carrier exposed, a sprayer to spray a coating material on said articles and means for progressively moving said carriers in a pre-determined path in parallel relation to each other in succession into and out of the spray from said sprayer, of a spray shield comprising a disc having a circular marginal portion, means mounting said disc to be rotated in a plane inclined to a horizontal plane and to the plane of said path of movement of the carriers with a segment of said marginal portion interposed between the sprayer and the exposed portions of the carriers as the carriers move in said path, thereby to prevent the material of the spray from contacting with said exposed portions of the carriers and providing for gravitational How of the coating material on the upper surface of the disc toward the lowermost segment of the marginal portion of the disc, means for rotating said disc, and means for wiping the coating material from the disc and deflecting it off the edge of the disc so that the first-mentioned segment of the marginal port-ion of the disc is maintained substantially clean.

2. In a spray coating machine as defined in claim 1, said mounting means including means for bodily moving the disc to adjust the edge thereof longitudinally of said carriers, and means for bodily moving said disc to adjust the edge thereof toward and away from the path of movement of the carriers.

3. In a spray coating machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting means includes a main frame and means for bodily movingsaid disc to adjust the edge thereof longitudinally of said carrier and toward and away from the path of movement of the carriers, comprising a portion of said frame adjustable toward and from the path of movement of the carriers, a support arm pivotally mounted on said adjustable portion of the frame and having said disc journaled therein, and means on said frame for holding said support arm in its adjusted positions.

4. In a spray coating machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting means includes a support arm having a bearing in which said disc is journaled, a frame relatively to which said carriers move in said path, means movably mounting said support arm on said frame for adjustment of the edge of said disc toward and from the path of movement of the carriers and means including the last-named means mounting said support arm for adjustment of the edge of the disc longitudinally of said carriers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,505,063 Palermo Apr. 25, 1950 2,559,351 Drake et a]. July 13, 1951 2,733,172 Brennan Jan. 31, 1956 

